Bellevue nips Margaretta in summer hoops battle

SANDUSKY — Bellevue and Margaretta have built a must-see girls basketball rivalry in recent years. That intensity extended into the summer Tuesday. Bellevue edged a short-handed Margaretta squad 18-16 in sudden death overtime in the finals of the Deuce Brand Summer Classic on the main court at Cedar Point Sports Center. Mazie Gracemyer rebounded an airball under the basket and converted a reverse lay-in to win it for the Lady Red. "Right place, right time," Bellevue coach Kory Santoro said. "She made a nice rebound and a nice shot." Games in the two-day tournament were 12 minutes in length with the clock only stopping with less than a minute to play. It was rapid-fire basketball, and two of the area's best squads survived a 17-team bracket to meet for the championship. "They're obviously a rival of ours and we've had some great games over the years," Santoro said. "To have this come down to two teams in the area was kind of fun." There were four lead changes in the final minute. Margaretta's Ellyse Schaefer made two free throws to give the Polar Bears a 15-14 lead with 34 seconds to play. Bellevue's Kaitlyn Turinsky — who scored six points in the final two minutes of regulation play — made two free tosses with 13 seconds remaining to give Bellevue the lead. A free throw by the Bears' Lillian Belak sent the game into overtime before Gracemyer, a rising sophomore, ended it on the first possession. "Good, fun stuff. I couldn't be prouder of our group," Margaretta coach Ray Neill said. "Up until this final game we were undefeated for the week and played well. "Unfortunately, we got an injury issue that we're concerned about and had a couple girls who had to leave at a certain time today. I'm not making excuses. We were at the foul line with a chance to win it with two seconds left. "Overtime against Bellevue in a summer showdown is good entertainment." Margaretta standout Kenadie Saylor had her right knee wrapped and was on crutches Tuesday. All-Sandusky Bay Conference center Cassidy Lane missed the matchup with Bellevue due to a softball conflict. "We scrapped a little bit and made it interesting," Neill said. Margaretta, which edged Fremont Ross 12-10 in the semifinals, will finish its summer season with a shootout at Sandusky on Saturday. Bellevue, the defending Division IV state champion, will compete in a shootout at Youngstown State on Saturday. The Lady Red defeated Bishop Ready 18-8 in the semifinals after a close call against Upper Sandusky in the quarterfinals. Bellevue trailed Upper 18-14 with less than a minute to play, but got 3-pointers from Ellie Freitag and Gracemyer (with 16 seconds left) to take the lead and won 22-18. "I think at times we look really, really good," Santoro said. "We have the potential to be a good team, but we just have to get time on the floor. We gotta bring some of these younger kids up to speed on how we want them to play defense. We're not close to being the defensive team we want to be, but they have the capability of doing it." Santoro wants his team to play with more urgency, even if the 2025-26 regular season is four months away. "We didn't have that same fire we had (Monday)," he said. "I think we think we can just show up and because we're the Lady Red and former state champions we can intimidate people. That puts an even bigger target on your back. "We just can't show up and think we're gonna scare teams. We're not the same team we were last year and we have to understand that and keep working." Cedar Point Sports Center has hosted several tournaments this summer. Santoro is a fan of the venue, which will welcome college coaches from around the country to the boys Midwest Live event Friday and Saturday. "This is great, the best location you can have in your backyard," he said. "There are teams from Columbus, far south, Cleveland, Toledo. It's a great place to be."